
Adan Perez
Verified Expert in Product Management
Principal Product Manager
Arlington, VA, United States
Toptal member since November 14, 2018
Adan is a hands-on product leader with 20+ years of building software products, from 0-to-1 launches to AI transformation. As CPO at RadarFirst, a Vista Equity portfolio company, he launched its first AI products in 90 days and drove 18% ARR growth with 99% retention. He has shipped AI and ML since 2015, holds a U.S. patent developed with Apple, and contributed to exits to Rally Health (UnitedHealth Group) and Roper Technologies. He takes on roles from senior PM to fractional CPO.
Project Highlights
Education Highlights
Certification Highlights
Expertise
- Agile Product Management
- Business Strategy
- Consulting
- Digital Advertising
- Mobile
- Team Leadership
- User Experience (UX)
- iOS
Work Experience
Chief Product Officer
RadarFirst
- Drove 18% ARR growth to $20M, 99% customer retention, and 20% growth in cross-product customers at a Vista Equity Partners-backed GRC SaaS company.
- Launched the company's first AI-enabled products within 90 days on a platform with no prior AI capability, unlocking new pipeline and ACV growth.
- Shipped production AI agents that help large, highly regulated enterprises assess, manage, and respond to privacy incidents.
- Built an AI-native product operating model using custom GPTs, regulatory intelligence agents, and rapid prototyping, delivering 5x faster concept validation and 3x PRD throughput.
- Partnered with the Vista Agentic Factory to define the agentic product strategy, moving the platform from AI-as-a-feature to agentic-native.
- Rebuilt the majority of the product organization and led a 17-person product, design, and product marketing team, scaling to 30 while covering an open CTO seat.
- Ran AI training workshops for product and non-technical teams and led a company-wide AI agent hackathon.
Principal
ProdExec Solutions
- Led fractional product and technology engagements for growth-stage SaaS companies, including major engagements at Transact Campus, Piñata, The Goodpoint, and TI People.
- Advised notable clients including Freddie Mac, Brightfield, Hook Mobile, Informed XP, and Vectorform on product strategy, go-to-market, and user experience.
- Launched and scaled new SaaS product verticals across multiple engagements, driving gains in customer adoption and revenue expansion.
- Introduced AI-enabled capabilities across fintech and enterprise platforms to open new growth paths.
- Created a Jobs-to-be-Done framework for Brightfield's services procurement module from 30 voice-of-customer interviews with category leaders.
Technical Product Manager
Transact Campus Inc - Product Center
- Launched Mobile Credential as a Service on Transact's established campus platform, growing the customer base 60% in 18 months across 175+ colleges and universities.
- Invented a patented, first-to-market Apple App Clip mobile credential provisioning process through a strategic partnership with Apple, reducing onboarding friction and improving adoption.
- Led a 12-person team of software developers, product managers, and designers, with a direct reporting line over design.
- Built a 3-year product growth roadmap aligned to enterprise adoption and platform expansion.
- Established market leadership in mobile credentialing, contributing to Transact's $1.5B acquisition by Roper Technologies in 2024.
VP of Product Management and Business Development
Piñata
- Built Piñata's fintech rewards platform from zero, launching the Piñata: Make Rent Reward app on iOS and Android.
- Created the rewards experience and led new business and partnership development to source rewards partners.
- Led the product design and development teams through sprint execution from launch through post-launch iterations.
- Drove the creation of a foundational data platform to enable data-driven product decisions.
- Advanced the post-launch product roadmap to improve the financial health of all users.
Executive Product | Technology Advisor
Icarus Lived, Inc.
- Built an AI-driven product from 0 to 1, taking it from prototype to MVP beta to v1 production release.
- Developed the user experience and content strategy, product requirements, and roadmaps.
- Led the product design team and user research for the MVP.
- Created a growth marketing strategy targeting 500,000 users in the first calendar year.
- Built financial models and market comparisons for P&L, monthly active users, and valuation.
Head of Product
TI People
- Defined and built TI People's first SaaS product, turning the firm's employee experience HR expertise into a data analytics and workflow platform.
- Led a 30-customer co-creation advisory program, including Fortune 100 clients, to define the product vision and scope from customer needs.
- Set the customer-centered design strategy and developed a co-creation program.
- Secured 15 committed beta customers for the launch.
- Sourced, screened, and selected the technology partners and vendors for new product development.
- Built the North American digital marketing and demand generation strategy for the launch, sourcing 5,000 qualified leads.
- Advised the CEO on product strategy and roadmap creation.
Chief Product Officer (Founding)
Pulse Platform
- Led the 0-to-1 build and commercialization of an AI-powered B2B2C SaaS platform for orthopedic surgical recovery, built around patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs).
- Reduced post-acute care costs by 40% through AI-driven patient engagement and real-time risk flagging.
- Onboarded 1,500 users in the first 90 days after launch.
- Implemented an AI-driven patient engagement chatbot with ML-based sentiment analysis.
- Led a 12-person team across engineering, product, QA, and design, with a direct reporting line over design.
- Partnered with the founder and CEO through the company's acquisition by Rally Health (UnitedHealth Group) in 2018.
Director, New Product Development & Innovation
Mobile Posse
- Architected an AI-driven content delivery and personalization platform, building the company's first AI infrastructure.
- Managed teams of product developers and data scientists on new product initiatives to develop proof-of-concept products for AI-driven malicious ad detection and content personalization, creating the company's 1st phase of AI infrastructure.
- Developed an AI-powered malicious ad detection system that expanded the revenue portfolio.
- Owned the P&L for a newly launched product line and platform.
- Managed a team of six product managers and product designers, with a direct reporting line over design.
- Led data science and engineering teams through a roadmap of data analytics initiatives.
- Guided product and design teams in defining the company's 2017 product strategy and roadmap.
Senior Digital Portfolio Manager | Mobile Product Manager
USA Today
- Led the product portfolio management for all of USA Today's core mobile and tablet applications—ensuring product managers, designers, editorial, marketing, and other key stakeholders were working in sync to execute on the digital strategy.
- Managed a new product development team in launching products such as USA Today for Apple Watch, USA Today Audio, Your Take, and Broadway’s Best.
- Partnered with revenue teams to create and implement innovative native, high-impact programmatic advertising.
- Translated growth and portfolio strategies into annual initiatives and business requirements documents for all platform products.
- Established success metrics and partnered as appropriate to evaluate success and ensure the achievement of Mobile P&L.
- Led the product management process for USA Today iOS core mobile and tablet applications.
- Partnered with product marketing to develop strategic and data-driven plans for new mobile products and features.
- Worked closely with development and design teams to structure and evolve products around an optimal and unified user experience.
- Translated short-term growth and product strategy into a set of annual initiatives, roadmaps, and product requirements documents. Established success metrics and an evaluation process.
- Managed key stakeholder relationships to ensure alignment on timelines and business goals.
Product Manager
AT&T
- Managed and was the point of contact for the entire lifecycle of the ideation, execution, delivery, and support of mobile applications and content management platforms for client-facing audiences.
- Led product development, implementation, and product support for strategic technology initiatives for mobile applications.
- Managed the development of iOS applications that utilized data content display, dashboards, and GPS location features.
- Supervised cross-functional teams, including directly managing a team of developers through the production process.
- Assessed the market industry and needs to develop recommendations based on mobile app best practices to strategically implement and advise partners and users on how to maximize the value of the products.
Technical Lead
CACI
- Developed, designed, and managed teams that supported internal and external websites for DOD clients.
- Mastered multiple web software environments to support superior customer interaction and developed content that assisted in the enforcement of the client’s strategic plans.
- Managed the development lifecycle of web-based content management systems, performed product presentations, constructed training material, and taught courses to introduce and train organization members on the specific benefits of the technologies.
- Directed 20+ content contributors by providing project and technical guidance.
- Engaged in the creation of technical solutions and strategy development.
Web Developer
Gryphon Technologies
- Supported web technology initiatives of the United States Navy to customize products specifically to meet the client’s requirements.
Project History
Pulse Platform
Acquired 1,500 users during the first launch, and UnitedHealthcare purchased the company in October 2018.
As the founding chief product officer for the Pulse platform, I contributed to developing an orthopedic post-surgical recovery app for providers and patients. The platform included web and mobile applications.
The application experience included the ability for providers to build and publish custom digitalized care plans, track patient progress through their care plans, and enable direct communication between the two parties. The overall goal was to provide tools that engaged with the patients better during their recovery process, reduce the risk of readmissions, save money, and improve the patient experience.
TI People North American Digital Marketing Strategy and Demand Generation
https://www.ti-people.com/Set up and executed the digital marketing strategy for entering the North American market; sourced 5,000 qualified leads.
I partnered with TI People’s North American CEO to create an extensive digital marketing strategy. The strategy included the development and execution of marketing content, email and social marketing campaigns, content marketing calendars, content, and design revamps of all the TI People web and social accounts.
I also created an extensive demand generation process, which identified 5,000 qualified leads from top North American companies.
AARP Now Mobile App
http://now.aarp.org/Generated $4 million in new revenue via the design and launch of AARP's next-gen app—now, 1 million and YR1 downloads.
I led an organization-wide innovation initiative with a $5-million budget to identify the vision for AARP’s next-generation mobile app that’s focused on increasing engagement and brand value for current members, as well as promoting the brand value for prospective members.
First, I partnered with the AARP marketing department to conduct and analyze market research to determine customer needs and industry opportunities. Next, I created the vision, roadmap, and identified the business goals for the AARP Now app. I then successfully pitched the concept to internal executive stakeholders and gained organizational-wide support to execute the development of the AARP Now concept.
Throughout the product development process, I managed a wide range of internal and external stakeholders, leading design and engineering teams to launch the first version of the AARP Now app.
USA Today Redesign
Grew USA Today mobile/tablet revenue by $1.6 million and boosted page views on mobile (15%), tablet (12%), and desktop (8%).
I started the redesign process by interviewing members of each internal stakeholder group to understand their needs and how popular apps were or were not meeting them. The team conducted extensive testing with users and non-users to understand their needs, expectations, and experience patterns. This approach to interviews and testing would continue throughout the project as the apps were designed, prototyped, and developed. I aligned this input with my overall vision for the product roadmap, and with collaborative information from design and engineering teams, prioritized features into three releases of the redesign.
I worked with design to instill a rapid test and learn approach (new to our digital division). Each experience and functionality was tested in a lightweight design prototype that enabled quick adaptation and the ability to pivot based on the learning.
I involved the engineering team at the beginning of the process and gave them an equal seat at the table. The traditional approach was to include engineering after the first round of design was completed. This limited engineering’s input, often resulting in unrealistic design expectations and made them feel disconnected from the process.
Candidate Experience Platform
Defined the vision, created the proof of concept for TI People's first digital platform, and launched a successful pilot.
TI People is a consultancy that supports global HR leaders in their digital journey.
I established a co-creation process with the global HR executives (Forbes Global 2000) to define their needs for a customer experience human resources (CxHR) platform.
From numerous co-creation sessions, I created a product vision and outlined requirements for a proof of concept (POC) version of the platform. I sourced, screened, and selected vendors and technology partners to develop the product, and managed the development process. I also outlined and executed a successful pilot of the POC with the participation of 20 current and prospective customers, to gain feedback and insights to evolve the POC into a scalable, production-ready platform. I collaborated with TI People executives to define a go-to-market strategy and a detailed pricing model. Throughout the co-creation and pilot process, I led the effort to create all marketing documentation and collateral, as well as structure the virtual and in-person events to support the initiative.
Advancement of Brightfield's Services Procurement Model
Created Jobs-to-be-Done framework for Services Procurement and led product advancement of Services Procurement module.
Conducted 30 voice of the customer and product/testing interviews with category leaders to gain feedback and insight on product and industry needs. Per outcomes of qualitative and quantitive research, I developed a JTBD framework and oversaw the execution of product design and development to iteratively advance product offering.
Education
Master of Business Administration Degree in Marketing
University of Maryland - College Park, MD, USA
Bachelor's Degree in Communications
West Virginia University - Morgantown, WV, USA
Certifications
Executive Certification - Artificial Intelligence
MIT Sloan School of Management
Machine Learning Foundations for Product Managers
Duke University | via Cousera
Skills
Tools
Trello, Jira, Asana, Slack, Figma, MURAL, GitHub
Paradigms
Quantitative Research, Agile Product Management, Human-centered Design (HCD), Scrum, Agile Project Management, Requirements Analysis, B2C, Kanban, API Architecture
Industry Expertise
Healthcare, Government, Nonprofits, Specialty Healthcare, Entertainment & Leisure
Platforms
webOS, Azure
Other
Jobs to be Done (JTBD), Product-market Fit, Qualitative Research, Chief Product Officer (CPO), UX Strategy, Strategy, Web Applications, Team Leadership, Vendor Management, Management, Quality Assurance (QA), Lean Startups, Product Design, Demand Generation, Project Portfolio Management (PPM), Lean Product Development, Product Management, Minimum Viable Product (MVP), Android, Consulting, Product Marketing, iOS, Virtual Work, Freelancing, Business Analysis, Product Owner, Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO), Digital, Coaching, Remote Work, Growth, Interim CPO, Requirements, Product Strategy, Product Roadmaps, Go-to-market Plans, User Research, Business Models, Product Frameworks, Innovation, Product Ownership, Product Discovery, Product Coach, Business Planning, Business Consulting, Virtual Reality (VR), Product Portfolio Manager, Mobile, User Experience (UX), Artificial Intelligence Product Manager, Product Consultant, Publishing, Lean Development, Technical Product Management, Startups, Lean, Digital Product Management, Backlog Grooming, Process Improvement, Roadmaps, Feature Prioritization, Scope of Work (SOW), New Product Development, Product Launch, Discovery Workshops, Project Timelines, Market Fit, Business, Competition Research, Benchmarking, Market Research, Discovery, Pitch Decks, Fitness, Strategy Planning, Feature Roadmaps, New Business Development, UX Testing, Mobile Ads, Machine Learning, Analytics, Human Resources (HR), Business Strategy, Digital Advertising, Mobile Advertising, Growth Hacking, Acquisitions, Digital Health, Artificial General Intelligence (AGI), Miro, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Partnerships, JTBD Interviews, Customer Research, Technology, New Products, Gaming, Mobile Apps, Artificial Intelligence (AI), JavaScript, User Interface (UI), Growth Marketing, Cloud Architecture, User Stories, Aha!, Identity & Access Management (IAM), SaaS, Web UX, Business to Business (B2B), Data, Leadership, Marketing, Financial Management, Communication, Web Development, Journalism, Large Language Models (LLMs), Natural Language Processing (NLP), interim CTO, Data Transformation, Agentic AI
How to Work with Toptal
Toptal matches you directly with global industry experts from our network in hours—not weeks or months.
Share your needs
Choose your talent
Start your risk-free talent trial
Top talent is in high demand.
Start hiring